Web form is the most important element of any website that helps you collect user feedback, inquiries, orders and subscribers. It is important to design your web form in a way so that it directly increases the conversion ratio. Often web designers take this page for granted, it is one of the critical components for lead generation. It is often overlooked by the users as well and usually they don’t want to spend a second filling the web form out. Therefore, it is very important for a web designer to design a web form in a way that it provides great user experience. While developing and designing your website, keep these best practices in mind so that you will be able to create a form that increase your conversion rate.

1.    Pay Extra Attention to the Design

In order to maximize the submission process of your form you need to provide a friendly user experience. If you really want to encourage signups you need to come up with a design that stands out. A simple form can be boring for users, however a unique design embodies friendliness, helping users to enjoy the submission process. It is advisable to use white space to make the form prominent, allowing it to stand out from the rest of the information on the page.

Using a splash color is highly preferable to distinguish between the input fields. Moreover, providing directional cues can also demand attention, ensuring that users don’t miss any required field. Your web form layout must be visually distinct and have properly aligned fields to generate leads.

2.    Keep the Form Short

A lengthy form with lots of required fields will most likely irritate users, resulting in lower submission rate. Simplicity is the key; keep it concise and smaller to make users feel they are getting more in short amount of time. Long forms also tend to collect as much information as possible, which is tiresome for people and discourage them to fill the entire form. Make a wise decision and implement short forms to gain only the essential information to get better results.

It is observed that 3-5 form fields generate maximum number of conversions, according to a research conducted by Hubspot on over 40,000 web forms. If you add extra fields, then give users a clear reason why you are collecting certain details. You can break the long forms into small, easy chunks to ensure user friendliness. Though a short form will not generate more attention towards your services, it can dramatically boost the willingness among users to sign up and become a prospective client.

3.    Provide Users Clear Directions

Adding help text and directions can clear up any ambiguity that may arise among users while completing the form. In addition, explain terms that are difficult to communicate in the fields label. Help text is the most neglected thing when it comes to designing a sign up form and this can ultimately lead to a tiresome user experience and reduced conversion ratio.

Instead of displaying help text next to every single field, show it once the user tries to fill that particular field. Another way to incorporate the help text to get maximum number of conversions is to use ghost text in the input fields to get a user’s feedback. Make sure every label is descriptive enough so your users don’t get confused. It is also important to encourage those who feel disinclined to provide their personal information that their data is in safe hands. Adding a link to your privacy policy and data protection page will help remove any concerns users may arise.

4.    Offer Rewards to Entice People

Practical internet users value their time, privacy and personal info. If you ask for little information and provide users something useful, your conversion rate will be significantly high. Clearly explain why users need to fill out a form and specify the benefits they will be getting from your website.

You can offer an incentives, discounts, special offers, gifts and free trials to entice users. If you are offering a newsletter, make it appealing and highlight the value of the content. Mention your offer at the very top of your form so that users will get an idea of what they will get in return for their personal information. While creating the signup form, keep certain things in minds that will motivate people to fill it out. Using incentives and rewards is a great idea to increase the submission rate that will ultimately increase your conversion ratio.

5.    A/B Testing Works

Now you have an appealing design, concise form with help text and clear directions and a valuable offer, required for a high-converting form. To make it more cost-effective, try A/B testing. As altering just one word can change the entire result and will lead to more sales and profit. Decide what to test; either the length, incentive offer, submit button, text or anything else that you think is important. Choose the element that you think can greatly impact the conversion ratio. Start testing one variable at a time. Be patient and keep testing until you don’t get a handful of responses. In addition, test the validation and error messages so that users will have an idea to correct the issues related to form.

Convincing users to fill out the form and provide their contact information is not an easy task. It’s important to work out on all the basic elements discussed above to get the most out of your website form.